Italian Bruschetta Topping Flavoured With Ground Ivy and Wild Marjoram

Poor mans bruschetta aka ryvita with free herbs and excavated stuff from the back of the fridge.

I want to prove that you firstly don't need to be a foraging expert to create these dishes, you don't need to be a whiz in the kitchen and lastly you don't need to be rich- all you need is your imagination! 

I've been working part time in a minimum wage paid job, struggling to pay rent and run my car for the past 4 months and have managed to create some of the most exiting food I've ever attempted! 

Using herbs can really pick up every day ingredients- you could make this with just some overripe tomatoes that you can pick up from the shop in the reduced section and it would still taste amazing. 

Foraging is for everyone.

I stumbled across a funky looking vine at the base of a hedge the other day and rolled the stem between my fingers, square. It looks familiar I though, being a member of the mint family I'm fairly sure I can eat it- turned out to be the beautifully aromatic ground ivy or creeping charlie as it is also known. 

I came home and found my mother drying out a load of wild marjoram on the washing line and then inspiration struck.

Yes, I am a little biased towards Italian cuisine because it's what I've been brought up on, it's what is familiar and comforting. When I think of summer, I immediately think of eating fresh San Marzano tomatoes on a balcony in Sicily with fresh homemade ricotta, my family's olive oil and some crusty bread from the bakery.

Needless to say, English tomatoes don't even come close to that flavour so we need to tart them up a bit to make them edible. 

Ground Ivy

Ingredients

1 tbsp ground Ivy leaves, washed, drained and finely chopped

1 tbsp fresh or dried wild marjoram leaves, finely chopped

3-4 large basil leaves, finely chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

2 Cloves garlic, finely grated/chopped

Salt

1 ripe tomato, finely diced

2 roasted red peppers (I used the ones in jars that you can buy from most supermarkets), finely diced

2 artichoke hearts (again from a jar), finely diced 

5/6 green olives, finely diced 

1/4 of a fennel bulb, finely diced

Black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and leave to marinade (the longer the better) 

If you make it a day in advance, the juice is perfect for dipping crusty bread into.